


Royal Manners

by Vaixx



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M, Fantasy, M/M, Multi, Personal Ship, Romance, i dont care, oh well, this is not good, unrealistic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2018-06-12
Packaged: 2019-05-07 17:12:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14675712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vaixx/pseuds/Vaixx
Summary: With Alix Abigor, there seems to be no rest. If there is, it's quite short in time.He is the prince of catacalysm and attends a royal school with the rest of the princesses and princes among the land, yet he always feels alone-- as if he's the only one with a normal life. For starters, he doesn't claim his crown as everyone else proudly does.Alix struggles to feel somewhat accepted by his peers, yet he dares not go back to his family's land.He doesn't know what to do, but he needs to find an outlet, and quick.





	1. The Grand Entrance

In the lands of Aprysí, there are many sub-divisions of the land that belong to multiple royal families. Such families tend to have a specific way of living that matches with the relation of the family to the physical world, such as Greek and Roman gods and goddesses.  
Long ago, the forefathers of the land, those of each individual nation came together to set an end to the wars between their people and establish peaceful rule over their self-claimed lands.  
Lord Irthe claimed that his descendents will retain his ability to manipulate the earth and its natural elements within the crust, so it would only be fitting if his lands were considered as the sprawling plains of the west.  
Lord Zarié followed suit, although his royal successors would have the ability to manipulate ice, snow, and the such manifestations of frozen water, so his lands should pertain to the freezing caps of the northern mountain range.  
After many days of debate, the land was evenly divided between every lord, and his relative lands were fitting for his natural abilities, which they believed to be given to them by the Gods. The land was simply too perfect, and no man claimed the abilities of another, verbatim, so they had no doubts that some supreme entities must have influenced such an equality among their men on the planet.  
Or so they say.  
The issue with this was that the elemental families got their proper share of the land. But the families that sprung up later were mostly formed around societal and metaphysical concepts, such as the royal family of sexuality or the family of anarchy.  
Such families were not seen as truly regal, and thus had little-to-no land to claim as their own-- and even when they did, it was unable to be as representative of their concept as much as the royalty of the aforementioned lords.  
In the current society, the original families have picked up skills and professions that generally only people with their abilities could have. For instance, the family that represents nature's color and pigmentation are mostly artists of some form, and the family of metals (elements and alloys) generally make good blacksmiths.  
Again, this causes an issue for the newer families-- the family of love doesn't have a related talent, and the family of morality is quite contradictory, since nearly every family is faced with ethical dilemmas at some point.

This is why Alix Abigor never fit in. He, unfortunately, was born in to the family of catacalysm, which does have land to their name, but little at that. He does not have any particular skills that relate to this-- he actually doesn't find too much interest in destroying things or people. The prince considers his best talent as art, simply because he tends to draw disturbing, weird, or outright creepy things that spring from his imagination. Yet, he has a love for music, especially the soothing notes that come from a magnificent piano composition.  
Though, if anything, he fears getting close to anyone, because he feels he will just destroy his relationship with them. Thus, he hasnt ever truly had friends, but his whole family has always been that way. The family doesn't talk much, however; if they do, they risk breaking the royal family apart, and they need the recognition to reap the benefits of presiding over a good 500 acres or so.  
Alix's father and mother were very uninvolved in their son's life. As a matter of fact, he saw them only a couple times a month, in passing. So, he figured it would be best to not live such a depressing life and try to come out of his shell, and even if he didn't, he would be somewhere where he could be exposed to all different types of people from around the land. And luckily, such a place exists: Royale High. So, Alix left on his own accord, and headed to live at the school.  
All he had to do was gather some money, catch a cab to the nearest train station, then he was on his way. 

On the train, Alix luckily had a cabin all to himself. He barely had any luggage, so the small cabin seemed practically luxurious. For most of the ride, he had his earbuds in, listening to his music as he stared out the window at the passing land. Only after a while of staring had he finally noticed his reflection in the glass, and looked away-- he was never one to admire his own looks. He disliked his messy white hair, and he found his grey eyes to be boring. If someone, somehow, found him to be good-looking, he didn't care that much. It's just an opinion, at the end of the day. And since Alix barely had any social skills, he didn't care too much for opinions.  
With his entertainment ruined, Alix decided to take a nap-- by the time he would arrive, it would be the early morning, so he might as well set himself on the right schedule.

After a few hours, Alix was standing on the steps leading in to the school. The view was astounding: the doors were golden and ornate, and the outer walls were almost blindingly white. The walls of the actual school were a dark grey stone of sorts, with blue shingles on the roofs of the towers and the main building. The school's structure seemed almost perfect in every aspect, though it was supposed to represent the royal families.  
He entered the main doors and found himself in the main office of the school, just where he needed to be. He walked up to the front desk, where an older lady was sitting. She looked up at him and smiled, a warm and inviting aura radiating from her. "Good morning! How may I help you?" The lady had a sing-song voice, and Alix slightly smiled back at her, just to be polite. "I'm... transferring here," he answered, "I need a dorm and maybe some information?"  
The lady nodded, "Firstly, welcome-- If you could sign in here," she handed him a clipboard with a pen, with which he signed his name. "Secondly, I must ask if there is anyone you know here, so I could see about putting you in their dorm?"  
Alix simply shook his head-- if he knew anyone here, that almost defeats the purpose. "Alright then. Here you go, dorm number 23, dorm room 0-47. When you enter the school, the dorms will be to the right, towards the back of the building, and up the stairs." The lady handed him a paper with some notes on it, on the back of which there was a map of the school. The paper had his locker number and the temporary combination, a reminder of his dorm and dorm room numbers and the such. Alix nodded again, and said a quick thanks as he headed towards the doors that led from the main office to the school building. Again, they were large, golden doors with intricate designs etched into them.

As he opened the door, the sounds of kids chattering amongst themselves in the distance echoed through the otherwise-empty building. As soon as Alix stepped through the door and shut it behind him, the bell rang for classes to start.


	2. The Beginning

Alix entered the school and wandered to the dorms, taking a look around as he walked by the various rooms. The first main room was the entrance hall, which connected to the pool, main bathrooms, and the hall heading to the rest of the school. Going down the hallway, to the left were rows of lockers, and to the right were two rooms labeled "Study Hall" and "Auditorium". The end of that connecting hallway led to the main hallway, which expanded into a large room for the cafeteria, and led to more rooms to the left, to the right being the dorms.   
Alix headed up the stairs to the dorms and read the numbers as he walked, finally finding dorm 23. He used the keys to enter, shutting the door behind him. The door led into the main living room, with a television and a couch with a beanbag on either side, a table with some chairs, as well as a small bathroom. To the left was one room, to the right another. Alix headed into the right room since it was labeled as 0-47.  
The room was mostly empty, except for a desk, chair, some lights, and fittingly, a black and red themed bed. There was a decently-sized open space in the middle of the room, which he didn't mind.  
Alix spent the rest of the day in his room, fixing up things and putting clothes in his closet, and since he was a new arrival, his classes probably wouldn't immediately compensate for a new kid. Thankfully, Alix apparently had no roommate, since during the evening and nighttime, nobody arrived, so he was able to relax with meeting people until the next day.  
Though, the time passed by quickly. Alix could barely sleep; not from excitement, but rather fear. He was not looking forward to dealing with a whole crowd of new people trying to shove their lives and self-proclaimed importance in his face.   
Alix's alarm went off at 5:30, giving him 30 minutes to get ready and head downstairs for breakfast. He quickly took a shower, got into his clothes, and brushed his teeth. He stared at himself in the mirror and grabbed a black bandana, putting that over his mouth. He ran his hands through his hair since it's usually messy, but to a certain degree so it doesn't look bad.   
He finally headed downstairs with his keys in his pocket, and his books in his backpack, which he had slung over his right shoulder. He wandered into the cafeteria, which was buzzing with people having various conversations, surprisingly, as it was just 6 o'clock. Usually, people are too tired to have energetic conversation, but here that doesn't seem to matter. Alix decided that he wouldn't eat since he wasn't that hungry, and just sat down at a secluded table.  
As expected, nobody came near him, since they each had their own friends. Alix studied the groups: obviously the athletes, who were probably all good at P.E. or the competitive swimming; then, there were just the preps, who weren't exactly athletes, but popular just because they come from the biggest families, which is easy to tell because of their elegant dresses and heels; the bakers and chefs, who were sharing creations they spent the previous day working on; the nerds, who were chattering about their grades and some were reading books; the others, which were presumably good at something, but they only fell into parts of a group or two; and then, there's Alix. Being from one of the lesser families, he really didn't fit in with anyone or have any similarities to others.  
The bell finally rang for first period, and after consulting the schedule, Alix groaned when he realized that it was, of course, P.E. Why should should start the day off with physical stuff? He reluctantly headed towards the P.E. room, still nobody saying a word to him, whether they were going his way or the complete opposite way.   
In class, all they did was go around the track. Some chose to run, some chose to walk. Alix was one of those latter people; he was never one for running or exerting more energy than he needed to. Soon enough, the hour was up, and he headed to second period, which was cooking. Alix didn't mind it, but he didn't love it.  
He headed to his remaining morning classes, and finally, it was lunchtime. Thankfully, he'd been hungry since he had first period, though that meant he felt pretty drained for the following 3 classes, which of course were cooking, science, and english. Alix decided to get something small to eat, sitting where he had sat during breakfast, which nobody again had come to.   
After lunch, he headed to math, which was his second-to-last class. In nearly every subject, he decided to sit near the back of the classroom, since he didn't want to be noticed as the new kid. He'd gone all day without a word being said directly to him, but after math class was where that streak ended.  
He sat down in the only available seat that was in the back, next to a boy with light brown, medium-short hair. Alix didn't pay much attention to him, but when he sat down, the other kid seemed to notice he was new. Class went by without a word exchanged between the two, however as Alix was heading to his next class, the kid stopped him.   
"Hey, uh... Are you new here?" The guy asked, his blue eyes studying Alix's monochromatic appearance. Alix sighed softly, "Yeah, yeah... Why?"  
"Nobody usually sits next to me, and I haven't seen you around."  
Alix scoffed a bit, "I'm sure you would be able to pick me out from not knowing me." At this, the kid seemed confused, furrowing his brow.   
"What do you mean by that?"  
"What I mean is simply that I'm sure you, being mister pretty boy, has connections to everyone already, besides me, since I'm the new kid." Alix didn't care for this conversation, nor how he showed his feelings towards the preps through this guy.  
The shorter boy stuttered, then got a little annoyed, "Look-- First off, I don't know everyone-- I'm not a prep! And second off, I'm not a 'pretty boy'-- I'm just a normal prince!"  
Alix rolled his eyes, "Look, I may seem like I don't care for grades but I actually do because I have nothing better to be doing with my life, so I don't want to be late." Alix sneered, adding, "Pretty boy." He turned on his heel and walked to music, which he was internally quite excited for.   
The kids were left to practice as they pleased, and Alix chose the piano, specifically sitting at one of the older ones in the back of the auditorium that hadn't been used in a while, as shown by the accumulation of dust on it.   
He got so lost in the music, he hadn't noticed the person standing somewhat behind him in the corner of his eye. The bell rang to signal the end of the school day, so he got up to leave and was startled to see a girl with bleached-blonde hair standing there, smiling too sweetly at him. "Hey, handsome." She purred, and Alix simply sighed. "Look, I don't know you, but please don't refer to me as 'handsome' right off the bat."  
The girl huffed. "Fine." She folded her arms, her green eyes looking Alix up and down. "You new here? Because I'd know you. Everyone knows everyone here, you know."  
Alix laughed more to himself, "I can tell that already. And yeah, I'm new, so what?"  
The girl grinned, stepping a bit closer, "I'll just say, I've been with every guy here already, and I've yet to find one I'm really into. Maybe you could be the one, in time?"   
Alix closed his eyes and shook his head, thinking, Did she really just say that, directly to me? "Ew, no. I'm not here for relationships..." He started to walk away, but was stopped when one of the athletes stepped on his path. "Are you saying she's not pretty, you twit?"  
Alix really didn't care and tried to keep walking, but the other guy pulled him back, "I'm talking to you, fucker."  
Alix groaned and responded, "I'm not saying she's not pretty."  
"But you don't want to be with her?"  
"I said I'm not here for relationships."  
The guy laughed, "You're telling me an emo kid like you is here for his studies and good grades like a nerd?"  
Alix wasn't sure how to respond-- he wasn't going to flat-out tell just anyone exactly why he was there. "No, but I do care about my grades enough to make sure I pass."  
"Let me get this straight. You're not looking for relationships, even with the most popular girl in school, and yet you're also not here for grades. What the fuck is it, then?"  
Alix had enough and just wanted to go back to his dorm and deal with this tomorrow, so he started walking again. "Oh, Amanda, I know!" The jock exclaimed to the girl. "He must gay!"  
Alix was at the doors of the auditorium and hesitated before he opened the door and left, Amanda's high-pitched laughing echoing into the hall until the door shut. Even though Alix never had good social skills, he's never been okay with that... discrimination and hatred that came with that exclamation. He wasn't gay-- as a matter of fact, he basically was aromantic and asexual, but he wasn't fond of anyone being treated differently for such things.   
"What a great first day." Alix muttered to himself as he entered his dorm, going to his room to do homework then pass out on his bed.


	3. The Week

The next day, Alix went through his normal morning routine: get up at 5:30, shower, dry and fix his hair, and head down to sit alone at breakfast. However, he bought a cereal bar since he knew what his first 4 classes would be like. During breakfast, nobody still had come over to Alix, but he did catch a few people glancing over at him. Some were obviously out of interest, others were accompanied by seemingly hateful faces. Alix had known by that point that the day would not be great and thought to himself, At this rate, coming here is a waste of the school's resources and time.  
He got up, slinging his backpack over his shoulder, and began to walk towards the P.E. room to drop his bag off before he headed to the field.  
Alix attended his classes, trying his best to ignore the inevitable people in every class who would whisper about him. He knew it was about him because he would distinctly hear his name, and what coincidence would it be if the whole school was talking about a different Alex? So, he went about his day, nobody talking to him again.  
As the days went on, he was becoming more and more paranoid about people whispering and laughing behind his back without a word said to him. Finally, he was walking back to his dorm one day when a group of kids stopped him. The group consisted of 4 people: three guys and one girl.  
One of the guys piped up, "Hey, are you Alix?"  
Alix sighed, not responding, his left hand holding onto the strap of his backpack, which was slung over his left shoulder.  
"Well, are you?" The kid repeated, staring intently at him.  
"What does it matter?" Alix snapped back finally.  
"Oh, just so we know who to look out for." The second guy grinned, almost creepily as he answered.  
"What do you mean?"  
"Well," the girl started, "I personally know who to keep my boyfriend away from now!"  
Frustrated and confused, Alix couldn't hide his emotions, "What the hell do you mean?"  
"You should know, considering you like dick so much!" The third guy shouted and the group busted out into laughter.  
Alix just walked away as the group called him a fag and such derogatory, hateful names. It took a moment for Alix to process what they were insinuating, and as he walked away, they continued to call him a fag and such hateful names. Only when he was back to his dorm did Alix realize walking away without a word as they were wrongly accusing him of being gay was probably an even worse move on his part: it gave them more ammo to use as "evidence" against him.  
From then on, he did the best he could to keep to himself and just ignore people. However, Alix stumbled across a slightly familiar face one day. The brunette with blue eyes. The difference was that Alix watched as one of the jocks went up to the kid and managed to rip the kid's backpack from his hands, which he was holding and searching through for something. The kid turned around to face the guy, "Hey! Give that back!"  
"And what're you gonna do 'bout it, pipsqueak? You gonna go and tattle on me to a teacher? Or are you gonna give up and cry like a baby? Oh, or are you actually going to grow some balls, man up, and try to fight me?"  
Quite a few kids surrounding the two laughed at this, and the brunette's face flushed a pinkish color. "I-I--" He stammered, unsure what to do or say.  
"Oh look, the baby's going to say his first words! What is it? Oh, and oops!" The jock laughs at his own sarcastic comment as he "accidentally" dumped out the kid's backpack contents to the floor.  
The "pretty boy" was even more flustered now, and although Alix didn't know him much and had a bad first encounter with him, he pushed through the gathering crowd and yelled at the jock without thinking, "Fuck off you dickbag!"  
"Oh look, little baby boy has a playdate! And what're you going to try to do, wimp?"  
Alix didn't even respond or hesitate, socking the jock right in his jaw, to which he yelped in pain and people around them chanting "Fight! Fight! Fight!"  
The brunette stood behind and to the right of Alix, frozen, like a deer in headlights, and the jock growled as he punched Alix back, who dodged but didn't notice the jock's other massive fist heading from the left, connecting with his cheekbone and forcing him to stumble and catch himself on the wall. By this point, Alix didn't care if he won or lost, since there was no backing out, and he was determined to at least try. If he won, he would show what he is capable of, and that he can't just be tossed around like the other kid. If he lost, he could at least say he landed a punch or two and tried, which was ballsy to do so against possibly one of the bigger jocks at the school.  
Alix stood up, a little dazed, but he pushed the jock away since he was trying to pin Alix against the wall. Alix punched the jock's side as hard as he could, and tried to kick at his legs to knock him off balance. Alix got smacked against the wall again and kneed in his stomach, but he ignored the pain, blood, and visual hindrances the best he could in attempt to continue. He blocked out the crowd and was focused only on the jock's movements, anticipating his actions. The jock pulled his arm back, going for a hit to Alix's head, which he ducked and avoided, and used the opening to push off from the wall and knock the jock off balance, sending him backwards, but Alix fell along with him so they began to wrestle on the floor. The jock managed to get over Alix, knocking punch after lunch against Alix's face, mostly against his temples. Alix struggled despite the pounding headache he was getting, and how he barely could see, and he was sure he tasted blood. He kicked and pushed at the jock, and tried to glance over at the other kid, the brunette, but he was gone. Alix had made a mistake taking less than a second to do that, because the jock hit Alix the hardest he probably had yet, finally knocking Alix unconscious  
When Alix woke up, he wasn't sure where he was. It was dark, and really quiet. Even though the room had little light, it hurt to focus in anything, so he groaned as he closed his eyes again, shakily bringing his arm to his face to cover his eyes. _God, it even hurts to fuckin' think..._  
It hurt him a hit to breathe-- every time he inhaled, there was almost a pressure forcing it back out of him right away, and any time he exhaled there was a muted feeling of pain in his abdomen. "Man, this hurts..." He muttered, despite nobody being able to hear him.  
The door slowly opened, and he kept his eyes shielded, knowing that there would be light now.  
"You awake?" A females voice asked, and Alix took a moment to respond, since it was hard to talk due to his breathing issues. "I... Yeah..."  
"How are you feeling?" The voice got closer, and he heard a small squeak as the woman presumably sat next to him.  
"Everything... Hurts..."  
"I would assume so. How's your head?"  
"It... feels like I have... the worst fucking migraine in my life..."  
The lady hesitated to say something, then said something else instead. "I hear he hit you pretty hard, especially against your temples..."  
Alix stayed silent, preferring not to talk.  
"... He's in pretty big trouble, a few more good blows and you might've been out for a few days."  
"How... How long _have_... I been out...?" Alix asked quietly.  
"Only a few hours. Your lip seems a bit better-- he had busted it, unsurprisingly-- but bruises are definitely showing now, especially on your stomach."  
Alix hadn't even noticed the lack of a shirt, despite there being a slight draft from the air conditioning in the room.  
The lady was silent for a few minutes, then finally spoke again, "If you're wondering, you're not necessarily in trouble but the principal will have to question you, once you're good enough to at least talk and think straight."  
Alix sighed, then cringed, muttering a curse of pain under his breath, his other hand clutching at his stomach.  
"You also need to eat, when you can move. I'll check back in a few hours, since you're--" Alix passed out again as she was talking, so she simply muttered a quiet, "I figured." and headed out of the room.  
When Alix came to again, he felt a bit better, his head clearing up and he could keep his eyes open in the darkness. However, it still hurt to breathe and his whole body ached, the headache still pounding, but its pulsing was slower. A lady slowly opened the door, and Alix covered his eyes as light entered the room, slowly letting his eyes adjust before lowering his hand and squinting at the lady as she came closer. "Feeling any better now?" From the voice, Alix could tell that it was the lady from earlier. "Yeah, a bit... It still hurts to breathe abd I feel pretty weak..."  
"As expected." The nurse nodded, sitting beside Alix again. She studied him, just to look at his bruises and such, commenting, "We really should do an x-ray on your torso when you're better, too. With how long it's taking to get your breathing not to hurt, I wouldn't be surprised if he broke a rib or two."  
Alix laughed softly then stopped, cringing again, "I wouldn't either, honestly. Everything's really foggy but... That knee I remember well."  
The nurse smiled a bit and nodded, "I'm sure. Now, go on and sleep again, once you're back up next time you can eat and we can get some things of the situation sorted out, then we can also talk about an X-ray later, alright?"  
Alix nodded, replying with a soft thank-you before the nurse left the room, and Alix fell asleep in the darkness once again.


	4. The Meeting

It had been a week since Alix decided to fight the jock and stick up for the "pretty boy". He wasn't feeling perfect, but definitely better, considering he was back to classes and, thankfully, he had the choice to sit out during P.E. sometimes. All he had to do was complain about his side or stomach hurting, and he would be let off. He could only keep that up for a few more weeks since his pain wouldn't be as bad after so long. Once again, nobody talked to Alix, but he would still hear whispers about him behind his back, especially when he walked through the hallways.   
After Alix had woken up for the third time, he was brought in to the principal to discuss what had occurred. Alix explained that he did, in fact, throw the first punch, but he tried to emphasize he was merely standing up for the other kid, who he still didn't know the name of. The principal was understanding and stated that the jock was being watched closely due to some anonymous tips of some threats he said at times, anyway. She did reprimand Alix for bringing it to violence, but he knew that she _had_ to say that, being the principal and all.   
After that, Alix was sent off on that Saturday to go for an x-ray, and sure enough, one of his ribs was cracked. Not broken, but still fractured to the point of him being brought in for surgery. Once he got out and was cleared to go back to school, he was advised to take a few days off to relax and not spend too much time up, as he would have during a normal school day. The nurse and principal visited a few times, but one time, neither of the two women had come to visit.  
Alix was laying in his bed, slightly elevated so he wasn't flat on his back. He had his eyes closed and his music playing off his phone when he heard a knock at the dorm's main door. He groaned softly to himself, yelling "Coming!" He got up, pulling a pair of sweatpants on, and walked to the door, opening it. He wasn't expecting the brunette kid to be standing there, with his hands in his pockets and his blue eyes studying Alix for a moment before he spoke. "Hey, uh... Alix... Right?"  
Alix nodded, then leaned against the doorframe, uninterested already. "What do you want?"  
The kid slightly shrugged, "I just wanted to say thank you... And see how you were doing..."  
It was the evening, and it was quite cold out. The walkways between the dorms were out in the open for the most part, so Alix sighed, stepped aside, and motioned for the kid to come in. He shut the door behind the boy, leaning against the wall as the brunette looked around and nodded a bit, turning to face Alix.  
"So... How are you? I... Heard you went to the hospital..."  
Alix stared off to the side for a moment, then sighed softly as he returned his gaze to the kid. "Still in pain, really. I've got a plate holding my rib together, and a fuckin' scar," he gestured towards his right side, above his stomach, "so you tell me how you think I am." He growled, not meaning to do so, but didn't care all that much for the moment.  
The brunette was slightly taken aback and nodded slightly. He hesitated, "I'm... I'm sorry for dropping by like this and bothering you... I know you don't care for me, that's painfully obvious. But... I have one question-- or, should I say, one more."  
Alix shrugged. "Shoot. I'm not in any time limit or anything."  
The kid hesitated, "Why did you start shit with the jock? You don't like me, why did you even bother?"  
Alix hesitated, honestly not knowing the answer. He decided to lie that he knew would be his best bet, "I just hate when people get picked on like that. It's uncalled for, no matter who you are. I don't know who you are, what the fuck you could've done or said to elicit that in the long run but I couldn't just watch that jock be an asshole. And frankly, I don't care for backstory."  
Silence briefly fell between the two of them.  
Alix narrowed his eyes at the kid, figuring he might as well know something about the guy he was beaten up for. "What's your name, anyway?"  
"Jason." The brunette replied.  
Alix huffed, "So, Jason, is this just going to be a small talk session or what?" He wasn't very keen on having such an awkward conversation, and the pain slowly growing in his stomach didn't help the situation or his irritability.   
Jason realized how annoyed Alix was and shook his head, "No-no, sorry to bother you... I'll leave now, then." He headed to the door and shut it behind him, leaving Alix to pull himself from the wall and head back to bed. Laying down, Alix was staring up at the ceiling and almost forgot his music had been playing that whole time.  
Later on in the week, once Alix went back to his classes, he was at lunch and sat alone, flipping between the screens on his phone. Jason walked over to the table and sat down, waiting for Alix to notice him. Once he realized Alix didn't do so, he spoke up, "Hey."  
Alix glanced up and hesitated with responding, with which he followed, "Look, I'm sorry for being a dick. This pain's getting to me."  
Jason shrugged, "It's alright. I understand you really don't want to talk anyway."  
As if on cue, one of the preppy groups burst out into obnoxious laughter, and when the two boys looked, they noticed that the whole group was glancing their way as they continued to laugh and crack jokes.  
Alix sighed softly and returned his focus to his phone, "I don't care, but I don't get why they say shit about me." Jason hesitated, opening his mouth to respond, but deciding against it.  
Alix, having noticed Jason's silence, looked up at the brunette, "Do... Do you know? What they say about me, I mean."  
Jason stayed silent even longer, looking down at his hands, which he was fidgeting with in his lap.   
"Jason. That silence makes me think you do. What do they possibly have to say about me?"  
Jason stayed silent, and the bell rang to signify the end of lunch. The brunette got up, grabbed his stuff and disappeared into the crowd, leaving Alix confused and slightly annoyed.  
A few days had passed and Alix didn't see Jason anywhere. _Where is he?_ Alix thought to himself every time he walked through the halls or sat at breakfast and lunch. But still, no signs of the light brunette.   
One day during class, Alix got up and headed out to use the men's bathroom. When he entered, he didn't see anyone and proceeded to do his business, then washed his hands. As he was drying his hands with a paper towel, he heard a stifled sob coming from the furthest stall. He normally wouldn't bother too much, since people's personal lives are, well, personal. However, the guy uttered a quiet "Fuck" as he tried to keep quiet. Alix slowly walked over to the stall and quietly tapped, "Hey dude, you alright?"  
The person fell quiet, and let out another sob that he couldn't keep back. "I-I'm fine..."  
Alix hesitated, figuring he should push further. "Jason, is that you?"  
"Go away."  
"Dude, I just want to help. Is it the preps?"  
Alix felt he pushed him too far, as he wasn't even responding anymore. Alix sighed and lowered his head, "Okay, I'll leave you alo--"   
The stall door unlocked opened, and there stood a red-eyed, messy-haired Jason, staring up at Alix, his cheeks unsurprisingly stained with tears.  
Jason pushed past the taller boy, washing his hands and splashing some water on his face, using his long sleeve to wipe the water from his face. Alix simply turned around where he was standing so he would face Jason without approaching him any more. "Jason."  
"What." Jason stared at Alix through the mirror.  
"I want to make up for being a dick, every time we've talked."  
"Please, stay out of this then."  
Alix nodded, "I understand... One question though."  
Jason was silent, but didn't move, so Alix figured that was a go-ahead.  
"What class do you have right now?"  
"Art."  
"What... What grade are you in?"  
Jason was silent, and Alix hesitated, "I'm in 11th, you know..."  
"I'm a year younger." Jason muttered.  
"Oh." Alix nodded, then looked down. Jason left, his face expressionless as he walked out.  
Alix headed back to class, feeling that Jason was his best shot at a friend... Or something.


End file.
